ICC DSI, UNCITRAL, and UNESCAP launched a new tracker to monitor global progress towards paperless trade with the UN NCD Convention

A new digital tool has been launched to track the progress of countries moving towards ratifying the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents (NCD Convention), a landmark treaty designed to enable fully digital cargo documents. 

This initiative, developed collaboratively by the ICC Digital Standards Initiative (DSI), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), provides unprecedented transparency into the global journey towards paperless trade.

Mapping the path to digital cargo documents

The NCD Convention Tracker charts each economy’s progress through six distinct stages, ranging from initial awareness to full ratification and entry into force. 

With 28 economies already actively engaging with the convention and a threshold of 10 ratifications required for the treaty to come into effect, the tracker brings visibility to the global race to eliminate paper cargo documents.

This transparency offers governments, businesses, and international organisations their clearest insight yet into how the world is advancing, or lagging, in adopting this transformative legal framework.

Addressing a persistent bottleneck in global trade

Traditionally, cargo documents have been physical paper documents that must be transferred manually between banks, traders, and logistics providers. 

This process is slow, costly, and vulnerable to errors and fraud. The NCD Convention, adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2025, establishes a harmonised legal basis for issuing, transferring, and enforcing cargo documents electronically across borders.

By enabling digital negotiable cargo documents, the convention promises to streamline global trade, reduce costs, and enhance security.

The six-stage ratification journey

The tracker follows countries along a six-stage pathway – awareness, consideration, engagement, signature, ratification, and entry into force.

This structured approach brings clarity to a process that has traditionally been opaque, allowing stakeholders to monitor progress and identify where support and advocacy may be needed.

Initial data from the tracker show that 28 economies are engaging with the convention, including eight in Asia and seven in Africa, where the benefits of trade digitalisation can be substantial.

Building on proven transparency models

The NCD Convention Tracker follows the MLETR Tracker, which tracks the adoption of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records.

The MLETR Tracker showed that greater transparency speeds up ratification by allowing governments to see each other’s progress and encouraging businesses to push for legal certainty in their markets.

Beyond tracking, the NCD Convention Tracker aims to generate momentum for reform and broader adoption of digital trade practices worldwide.

Pamela Mar, Managing Director of the ICC Digital Standards Initiative, said, “We have learned from the creation and launch of the MLETR tracker that visibility on states’ adoption of policy can drive business interest and commitment to adopt digital trade practices. It’s our hope that the NCD—being a ‘fast track’ to MLETR alignment—can provide transparency on the consideration by states of the NCD—and thus inject momentum to the movement to digitalise trade processes worldwide.”

Anna Joubin-Bret, Madam Secretary of UNCITRAL, added, “A UN convention achieves its purpose when it is widely adopted and used by states. By tracking engagement with the NCD Convention from the earliest stages through joining the convention, the NCD Tracker offers a practical tool for monitoring progress, fostering dialogue with States, and supporting efforts towards broad participation in this important new instrument.”

Fedor Kormilitsyn, Economic Affairs Officer at ESCAP Transport Division, said, “ESCAP Transport Division has been consistently working, along with our mandate, on adjusting legal frameworks to the changing operational environment and challenges for multimodal transport.”

“We believe that the adoption of the NCD Convention is an important landmark in strengthening legal environment for multimodal transport operations, including in the Asia and the Pacific region. We look forward to its quick entry into force and believe that the NCD Tracker, which we helped to develop, is a useful practical tool for assessing the progress of the countries towards becoming the Parties to that convention.”

The launch of the NCD Convention Tracker is a milestone step in the global effort to digitise trade documentation.